


Reliving Happier Times

by Galindrael



Series: A Very Dragon Age Christmas [1]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: DECFANFIC, Day One, F/M, Fluff, I haven't written in months, Ice Skating, With a smidge of angst, and haven't submitted in years, be gentle with me Watson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:49:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2704427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galindrael/pseuds/Galindrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scáthach Trevelyan decided her Inquisition's Commander needed a day off from the constraints of Skyhold. With plans she has had in the works for months, she decided to finally give the Commander the letter that arrived last week for him and help him relive happier times.</p><p>For the #DecFanfic contest.</p><p>There are currently 22 parts to this series, the link, for some reason is broken- sorry for the issue, I'm trying to fix it (as of 1 February 2015).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reliving Happier Times

“It’s a surprise, Cullen,” Scáthach responded to her Commander’s incessant questioning.

 _Where are we going? Do I need my sword? Shall I pack us warmer clothing? Will we be back before sun down?_ Much to Cullen’s chagrin she had not eased up at all but the glances given between her and her spirit companion had made Cullen suspect he had something to do with it. Which made Cullen uneasy as Cole could have told her any private insight into his past, but the pull of her hand and the smell of her hair had pulled him into the whirlpool that was the Inquisitor. _His_ Inquisitor.

They walked from his office to the stables where Horsemaster Dennet had 2 of the Inquisitions finer mounts already saddled and packed. The Inquisitor’s favored mount held larger packs than his but his had a special sheath sewn into the saddled for his sword, a rather ingenious invention from Dennet.  As Cullen was securing his weapon and his personal pack to the mount, he caught part of a conversation between Blackwall and Scáthach. He didn’t catch the first part but he did manage to hear a few lines between the horses being restless as they were saddled up and excited to get some exercise. 

Scáthach and Blackwall walked out of the stables; her with rope and him with a piece of wood he was whittling, “On your way to enjoy the first day of no new snowfall, Inquisitor?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve been waiting for just the right weather for this. Thank you for helping out, friend,” she placed a hand on his shoulder and Cullen felt himself tense at the touch. An irrational reaction, he knew, but all those years of not truly having much of anything to claim as his own when he was in the Templar Order- his jaw tightened. Blackwall’s one-of-the-soldier’s clap on her back response made him chuckle, despite himself, as sometimes the older gentleman forgets his strength and Scáthach nearly lost her balance in the snow.

“Here,” Blackwall handed her a rolled up parchment, “Josephine asked me to give you this”.  She untied the red ribbon from the parchment and she just smiled as she shook her head.

“Tell Josie ‘Thank you’, even though I know where I’m going,” she used the red ribbon to tie up her ever-growing hair, placed the paper in her pack and proceeded to sling it over her shoulder. Loud clanging came from the pack and Cullen’s brows furrowed in response. _What in Andraste’s name is she up to?_

She slowly walked towards him and tied up her pack to the back of the horse. She fought with the rope a few times before Cullen walked up behind her and helped secure the pack with a tighter knot he was used to using for nearly everything. Scáthach turned to face him as he kept tying the knot behind her needing no sight of the knot to know he was doing it correctly. He smiled as she slipped her hands underneath his coat pulled him closer for a hug. Once he finished the knot he reciprocated the gesture and held her to him.  Cullen closed his eyes and rested his head on top of hers- here he was peaceful. Here he knew she was safe and, most importantly, here he shared a moment with her that was his and his alone.

Once he was unsure how to react to her advances. Initially he was just surprised at how straight-forward she had been about her interest in him. Once he was just jumbled words and awkward, unsure glances but now…now they openly shared in their affections.  No more stolen kisses on the battlements, no more late-night sneaking into her room or waiting for the guard shifts to return to his quarters.  The first time she came to him he was surprised that she had stayed through the night and was just lacing up her boots to go about her duties when he woke. It was when she stayed after she learned of the nightmares that he knew that he had fallen in love with her. Who needs lyrium when she provides the same focus as the potion once did?

Even their fights, arguments and general lover's spats would disappear when he held her. Maker, even their personal issues were easier when they were together. Well, at least his was easier when she was near.

He remembers her walking into his office and sheepishly letting him know that she had, despite his concerns, finished her Templar training. He was worried, _so worried_ , that she would become addicted. That she would change with the blue substance as he had watched so may recruits give in. But she asked him one last favor before she swore to never bring it up to him again. When she asked him to show her how to use it safely and what the absolute minimal amount she’d need to function as a Templar, he complied.  She never let him touch lyrium again and he appreciated that. He knew the decision was not his to make for her but within the year she’s been a Templar she’s only used it when she absolutely had to. No more than what was needed. More times than not he’d notice her giving her lyrium to the mages to help with the healing of their soldiers. But… Sometimes, if she had just taken her lyrium he could feel it under her skin. He could feel the familiar hum and its pull from her. It rushed to the surface of her skin almost pulling at his to feel the familiar magic that Cullen’s body once held as well. In times of great stress Cullen noticed that if she had just taken her lyrium he’d become an aggressive lover; he’d bite and scratch and pull at her, doing anything to forget about pull of his past by over-stimulating the present. But, truly, in his opinion, her kisses were far more addicting than it could ever be. 

When they began to leave Skyhold, and after he stopped thinking about lyrium, he could hardly focus on anything other than trying to figure out where she was leading him. They rode for some time until they reached an older campsite that they had once used on their pilgrimage to Skyhold and that’s when Scáthach had pulled out a small piece of velveteen from her pack, and handed it to Cullen.

“Go, on, Commander, blindfold yourself,” she took out the rope from her pack and tied his mount to hers.

“Well, this got a bit kinky, Inquisitor,” he chuckled as he began to tie it around his head, “Or, I’ve done something terribly stupid and this is how I meet my demise” he fastened it as tight as he could without giving himself a headache.

“My dear Commander," she placed a hand on her chest,  "how could you suggest such sinful things to the Herald of Andraste?,” her feigned shock made him laugh once more.

“I apologize, my love, I have done you wrong with my inconsiderate remark,”  he placed his closed fist over his heart and half-bowed on his mount towards the direction of her voice.

“You are pardoned,” he jumped when he felt a hand squeeze his right thigh, “for now”. Cullen would swear he could feel the smile on her face through his velveteen blindfold.

“Now do I get a clue about where you’re leading me?” Cullen inquired.

“You’ll know soon enough,” Scáthach coolly replied.

Cullen tried to figure out the path in his head but the occasional remark from Scáthach would make him lose the direction he could only discern from which direction his mount was being pulled. Without a word, this horse stopped and he heard snow crunch to his right.

“Ok, dismount, _Commander_ ,” her teasing of his title yet again reminded him that, with her, he was hardly ever truly in command of anything other than her heart.

Cullen began to take off the blindfold when Scáthach’s  hand clamped down on his forearm with a quick warning noise, “Not just yet”.

Once he managed to carefully dismount he felt her hand snake around to his forearm and they began walking directly from where their mounts were tied.

“Ok, now, come to the right a bit,” he did until he felt resistance. He heard her wiping away what was, presumably, a layer of snow, “And now, slowly, sit”. He felt behind him until his hand managed to reach a boulder and was pleasantly surprised to find she had found a flat boulder.  The crunching noises returned and were accompanied by rummaging sounds and more crunching noises.

“Ok, hands out,” he offered his hands to her voice, palms up, and felt the increasing weight of something being placed in his hands. _Boots? Why would she give me-boots with a…protrusion…did she really?_

“Scáthach…did you,” he began to ask when she pulled off the blindfold. Cullen immediately looked to the ice-skates in his hands.

“How- how did you get these?” Cullen took off the leather slips from the skate’s blade.

“Blackwall helped me turn old boots into ice-skates. Bull got the metal, Sera, uh, ‘found’ said boots and Dagna enchanted the metal to stay sharp and not freeze quickly,” She was pulling on an ice-skate onto one foot and struggled until it popped into place.

“You remembered my off-hand comment…” Cullen’s chest tightened, they were not even courting when he mentioned it in Haven; how he wished the ice was thicker so he could skate. He remembered the trips his family used to take every few winters to skate on the frozen lakes of Ferelden. Sometimes it was Lake Calenhad to the east of Redcliffe or even one of the smaller lakes closer to Honnleath- truthfully,  those times were far and few. But he remembered playing with his siblings in the snow and he remembers how he loved feeling the wind straighten out his curling blonde hair. The last time his family went out an escaped mage came through and fought a Templar and he watched the mage strike at the Templar with full force only to be met with a stunning resistance to the mage’s attacks. When he subdued the mage peacefully and the Templar and a civilian carried him back to the tower it was that event that drew him to the order. He wanted to be that Templar. _It always comes back to ice-skating and wanting to be the knight-in-shining-armor._  After that event his father never took them back.

“Cullen?” Scáthach was looking at him with furrowed brows.

“Thank you. It means a lot to me,” he pulled her to him gently and sat her on his lap, his arms around her completely. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him gently. They sat there quietly until she began to run her fingers through his hair and he was pulled back to reality instead of replaying that last time over and over again; wondering who he would be if he never saw that Templar that day.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You seem a bit sullen,” She placed a hand on his cheek and he immediately placed his hand over hers, dropping the skates in the snow.

“I’m fine, just miss my family. But this is nice, and I’m excited to show you up finally,” he smirked.

“We’re competing now?” she asked.

“That we are. I know I’ll be a faster skater than you, and I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I pass you,” he planted a firm kiss on her lips, “Now, let me tie my laces and we’ll have a go”.

“Loser has to do what the other wants _tonight_ ,” Cullen’s hands froze when he registered what she was suggesting. His eyes shot to hers and then back to the ground before he regained composure.

“That’s a bet I’m willing to lose or win, honestly,” he began to quickly lace up his skates.

“One more thing, Cullen,” he looked up to Scáthach who was holding a small box- her arms stretched out offering it to him.

“What’s this,” he asked as he took it from her now gloved hands.

“Go on, open it,” she sat next to him watching his face as he began to unravel the ribbon and open the cherry wood box. Inside was an accommodation medal of the rank Knight-Vigilant with a letter neatly folded up to fit inside the box.

_Ser Cullen Stanton Rutherford of Honnleath,_

_Your previous request to withdraw from the Templar Order has been granted. With recommendations from the Inquisitor, Empress Celene and King Alistair, you are granted the rank of Knight-Vigilant for your efforts in both Kirkwall and within the Inquisition. Although we are sadden to see your intent has not waivered, you are honorably discharged and are free to return if you ever wish to do so. At the behest of Seeker Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast, you remain a separate entity within the Seekers for all intents and purposes; be assured that Seeker Penteghast stressed that this is maintain your technical title as Commander with your current troops and to cause no such alarm within the Inquisition’s forces. Seeker Penteghast also wishes us to convey her offer to recruit you within the Seekers maintaining rank of Commander (see attached letter)._

_Maker guide you and Andraste preserve you,_  
The Fereldan Templar Order  
The Orlesian Templar Order

_~Blessed are they who stand before, The corrupt and the wicked and do not falter. Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just.- Benedictions 4:10~_

Cullen hadn’t noticed that he had started crying until Scáthach had pulled him into a hug. He was free from the Order. He no longer answered to the Chantry. His decisions were now his own. And she did this all for him. She pulled every feasible favor from the Inquisition’s political power. She risked the Inquisition’s integrity to get this. She risked being thrown out of the Order herself. She risked everything in the middle of a war to relieve him from the Order. She had already set his mind at ease but this…this set his body free.  “Maker, Scáthach, you have done everything and more. How- how could I-” he looked up at her and just let go. He kissed her fervently and dropped the box in the snow.

A few silent moments of light kissing and tight hugging passed before he could muster up the courage to speak again.

“I could never repay you for this, you know,” he cupped her face and ran his thumb across her reddened cheeks.

“I would never ask you to repay me, Cullen. I will, however, ask you for that race you promised to beat me at”. She smiled and kissed his forehead, “What do you say, Commander-or should I say, Knight-Vigilant?” She smirked.

“I say, lace up the rest of your ice-skates, Inquisitor, you’ve got some competition” Cullen replied.

Cullen neatly folded the paper up and placed it back in the box. As he held it to the light, the Templar Order seal revealed itself  briefly before fading back when a cloud passed over-head. He couldn’t stop smiling as he placed the box on top of his boots.

The rest of the day they skated on the lake beneath the safety of Skyhold. Cullen couldn’t think of a happier time in his life, despite the breach and the threat of Corypheus looming in their future. Cullen couldn’t wait to get back to Skyhold. With this surprise he finally decided he was going to also surprise her when they got back- with his Mother’s ring and a promise. Just like Wardens, all Templars really are, even ex-Templars, are a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning on pulling all 30 one-shots together, so I left a few things unresolved. I'm going to try to keep them all within the Dragon Age fandom. Thank you for reading, enjoy!


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